Roman Missal

The Roman Missal is the book containing the prescribed
prayers, chants, and instructions for the celebration of Mass in the
Roman Catholic Church. Published first in Latin under the title Missale Romanum, the text is then translated and, once approved by a recognitio by the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, is published in modern languages for use in local churches throughout the world.

In 2002, Saint John Paul II introduced a new edition of the Missale Romanum (editio typica tertia,
the "third typical edition" [since the Second Vatican Council]) for use
in the Church. Soon after, the complex work of translating the text
into English began.

As the Church in the United States introduced the new edition of the
Missal in late 2011, so too did much of the English-speaking world. In
addition, the Missale Romanum, editio typica tertia is being
translated into other languages for use by the the Church in other
countries. The process of implementing a new edition of the prayers of
the Mass is not new, but has occurred numerous times throughout the
history of the Church as the Liturgy developed and was adapted to
particular circumstances to meet the needs of the Church.

In the earliest centuries of the Church, there were no books
containing prescribed liturgical prayers, texts, or other instructions.
Because the faith of the Church was (and still is) articulated in
liturgical prayer, there was a need for consistency and authenticity in
the words used in the celebration of the Liturgy. Collections of
prayers developed gradually for use in particular locations and
situations such as for a particular monastery, for the Pope, or for
other local churches. Such collections were contained in libelli ("booklets") which over centuries were drawn together into larger collections of prayers.

Eventually larger, more organized collections of prayers were assembled into "sacramentaries" (liber sacramentorum or sacramentarium),
which contained some, but not all, of the prayers of the Mass. The
earliest of these sacramentaries were attributed to Pope Leo I, "Leo the
Great" (440-461), and Pope Gelasius (492-496), but surviving versions
of those sacramentaries date from centuries later. Other early
manuscripts (such as the Ordines Romani) contained detailed descriptions of the celebration of the Mass with the Pope in Rome.

Those written accounts may have gradually served as instructions or rubrics
for the celebration of Mass in other settings. Liturgical books grew
as they passed from one community (a local church, a diocese, a
monastery, etc.) to another, often with prayers added in
margins or in blank spaces. The process of sharing text was by copying
by hand. This was a laborious task which at times led to
inconsistencies and errors.

The first true liturgical books which could be called "missals" were
found in monasteries beginning around the 12th and 13th Centuries. A missale
contained not only the prayers but the biblical readings, the chants,
and the rubrics for the celebration of Mass. It is difficult to trace
exact origins of the first missal.

The first book bearing the name Missale Romanum appeared in
1474, perhaps not coincidentally in the same century as the invention of
the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg (1440). But it was not until
after the Council of Trent that Pope Pius V, in 1570, promulgated an
edition of the Missale Romanum that was to be in obligatory use
throughout the Latin Church (except in cases where another rite had
been in place for at least 200 years). This marked the first official
attempt at uniformity in the celebration of the Mass in the history of
the Church.

Since that time, to accommodate the ongoing evolution and development of the Liturgy, new editions of the Missale Romanum were promulgated by Popes for use in the Church:

1604 – Pope Clement VIII

1634 – Pope Urban VIII

1884 – Pope Leo XIII

1920 – Pope Benedict XV

1962 – Saint John XXIII

1970 – Pope Paul VI

1975 – Pope Paul VI

2002 – Saint John Paul II

In addition, there were a number of other minor revisions to the
text, published as "reprints" which incorporated minor changes. The
most recent of these were in 1957 after Pope Pius XII's revisions to the
rites of Holy Week and the Sacred Triduum in 1955, and in 2008, when
Pope Benedict XVI incorporated a number of additional prayers, included
those for recently canonized saints as well as for the celebration of an
extended Vigil for Pentecost.

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